Ennis Cosby
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Ennis William Cosby (April 15, 1969 – January 16, 1997) was the son of actor Bill Cosby and Camille Hanks. He had four sisters.
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[edit] Life
Ennis' father Bill Cosby mined family life for much of his material, but kept the family itself quite private. Thus much of what is known of Ennis's early life is seen through the filter of his father's comedy sketches and TV shows.
Several events in the life of Ennis Cosby were intentionally mirrored by the events in the life of his father's fictional son Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show (1984-1992). Theo was portrayed by Malcolm-Jamal Warner. Both Ennis and Theo had four sisters: two older, two younger. Both had academic problems in middle school and high school. Both were diagnosed dyslexics and excelled academically in college. And both sought master's degrees in education from elite colleges in New York City: Ennis at Columbia University, Theo at New York University.
He attended Landmark College in 1990.
Similarly, the Cosby character Griffin Vesey, portrayed by Doug E. Doug, was a surrogate son to Bill Cosby's character on that series. Griffin eventually became a teacher, as Ennis aspired to do.
In one of his early standup routines, later released in theaters as Raw, Eddie Murphy mentioned Ennis Cosby in a sketch involving Bill Cosby: Ennis was said to be a fan of Murphy and the skit involved a teenage Ennis asking his parents for money to see a live performance by Murphy, and later coming home stunned at the language he used onstage, which appeared to conflict with his conservative upbringing. Cosby then called Murphy to scold him on his performance, and Murphy responded back with an expletive.
Although he performed on stage in high school, Ennis was not a public figure. He graduated from George School, Newtown, Pennsylvania, and Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia.
Cosby aspired to become a special education teacher after he overcame dyslexia. At the time of his death he was a student at Teachers College, Columbia University, and was a Sunday-school teacher in the Bronx.
[edit] Murder
Cosby was murdered by Mikhail Markhasev on January 16, 1997, in Los Angeles, California. He was 27 years old.
Cosby had pulled his Mercedes to the side of Interstate 405 to change a flat tire when he was confronted by Markhasev. According to prosecutors, Markhasev demanded money from Cosby, and then shot him in the head and fled the scene. Markhasev was convicted after a jury trial and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The main evidence used to convict him was that his DNA was found in a cap wrapped around the murder weapon, and the testimony of a man to whom he had sent incriminating letters and told of the location of the murder weapon. Markhasev confessed his guilt in 2001 in a letter to the court stating he wished to discontinue his appeals, also stating in the letter that he "wanted to do the right thing … More than anything, [he] wanted to apologize to the victim's family." Markhasev is serving his sentence in Corcoran State Prison.
[edit] Aftermath
In 2000, Bill Cosby started a scholarship in Ennis Cosby's name at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
In addition the Hello Friend/Ennis Cosby Foundation was established in his name.
